A huge point of the MicroView is that it's finished in a way that allows beginners to just plonk it into a breadboard and get up and running with Arduino. It's a bridge so they can ultimately get to the point where they can go to ebay and stitch parts together.

Re: Atmega32U4

We are aware of the Atmega32U4 but, we really wanted to build an Arduino in a chip form-factor. We'll be taking into consideration the Atmega32U4 for future versions.

    A large part of the $45 is FREE Worldwide Shipping.

Pricing is always going to be a delicate balance. On the one side you want things to be simple for beginners - and in this regard Arduino is right up there - but on the other hand it needs to be affordable. To be clear, I think this is a great looking product and I'll probably get one.

One of my hangups with the Arduino ecosystem in general is that you can buy the core for $20 or so, but you're stung when you buy any of the shields to go with it. This has kept me to using plain AVRs or 'minimalist' Arduino boards with just the bootloader. It got to the point where I taught myself PCB design because it was cheaper to make my own breakouts and buy the components from Farnell/Digikey.

Does the 32U4 really limit you that much? It comes in a QFN44 which is ridiculously small - I have a Sparkfun Pro Micro which fits into a breadboard with room to spare (and could be shrunk further if you removed the silkscreen labels). USB would possibly add a bit to the length, but it would fill a niche.

We are speaking of a $5 cost. Ok, let's get a margin and double this figure.

Even counting for Premium Worldwide shipping, I can't reach the listed price.

This is what I think of almost every 'hot new thing' on kickstarter, and they invariably smash through their targets without batting an eyelid, as this one has done (over 6.5x goal with 25 days left). Price aside for a moment, it looks great.